Page:Madagascar, with other poems - Davenant (1638).djvu/24

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Madagascar.
But these sick offers to depart, they call
A wearinesse of life, each Spring, and Fall:
And this beliefe (though well resolv'd before)
Made mee so sullen, that I'le die no more
Than old Chaldean Prophets in their sleepe;
Who still some reliques of their Soules, would keepe,
As gage for the returne of what they sent,
For visions to the starry Firmament.
Thus in a dreame, I did adventure out
Just so much Soule, as Sinners giv'n to doubt
Of after usage, dare forgoe a while:
And this swift Pilot steer'd unto an Isle,
Betweene the Southern Tropick and the Line;
Which (noble Prince) my prophecie cals thine:
There on a Christall Rock I sate, and saw
The empire of the Winds, new kept in awe,
By things, so large, and weighty as did presse
Waves to Bubbles, or what unswell'd to lesse:
The Sea, for shelter hastned to the shore;
Sought harbor for it selfe, not what it bore:
So well these Ships could rule; where ev'ry Saile,
The subdu'd Winds, court with so milde a gale,

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